Skandapurana 2.9.3

Nārada said:

You are sung of in the Vedas along with the Purāṇas, with their limbs and secondary limbs.

You alone are the eternal creator, the controller, the immortal one, O Acyuta.

You are the ordainer, and continually this entire universe is in you. // 1

Indeed, all the four stages of life, O God, and all the social classes

worship you day after day through their rites, abiding in your various forms. // 2

For you are the father and mother of all, the eternal deity.

Yet what god or what ancestor you worship, we do not know. // 3

The glorious Nārāyaṇa said:

This secret must not be spoken, being the secret of the self; nevertheless,

to you who are devoted to me, O brahmin, I shall tell it truly. // 4

He who is described by the scriptures as 'truth, knowledge, infinite, and brahman',

and who is beyond the three qualities, the person with a divine form, // 5

who is spoken of as the supreme person and the Lord Vāsudeva,

as the seer Nārāyaṇa, as Viṣṇu, and as the Lord Kṛṣṇa— // 6

know, O good sir, that he alone is our singular god and both our parents.

Indeed, he is worshipped by both of us in rites arranged for gods and ancestors. // 7

There is no father or god higher than him, O twice-born; / for he is to be known as our very self: Kṛṣṇa, the Lord of Brahmapura. // 8

By him, O brahmin, was established this standard that nurtures the world,

wishing the good of the world: that rites to gods and ancestors must be performed. // 9

Vedic action is twofold: active and renounced;

it is prescribed according to qualification for the attainment of the goals of human life. // 10

Accepting a suitable wife according to the rules of the Tantras and Vedas,

acquiring wealth by righteous means, sacrifices of material goods with desire, // 11

dwelling in a village or town, and whatever is performed as civic or sacrificial work—

all that is declared to be active action, which produces agitation. // 12

Renunciation of women and wealth, likewise of desire, greed, and anger,

dwelling in the forest, dispassion, austerity, forbearance, calm, and restraint, // 13

sacrifices of sacred study, sacrifices of yoga, sacrifices of knowledge of every kind,

and sacrifices of silent repetition, O sage, are proclaimed as renounced action. // 14

The destinations of men who practice active duty, O sage,

are within the three worlds, up to the heavenly realm. // 15

In the realms of Indra, Candra, Agni, and others, they indeed enjoy the fruit of their own merit:

manifold desired pleasures and sovereign powers. // 16

Having enjoyed that for as long as their merit lasts,

when their good deeds are exhausted, those gods fall helplessly back to the earth. // 17

For destruction of pleasures, sovereign power, and the like occurs by the momentum of time,

even against their will, O sage, when their merit has expired. // 18

Even for the cosmic deities, during the day of Brahmā,

the loss of desired pleasures and sovereignty repeatedly occurs by the swiftness of time. // 19

Those who are devoted to renounced duty, the yogins and ascetics,

go to the three worlds beginning with Jana, which are outside the three worlds. // 20

They enjoy their own desired pleasures and sovereign powers in those respective worlds;

even during the daily dissolution, they remain at ease. // 21

At the end of two parārdhas of Brahmā, by the power of time alone,

their fortunes of pleasure and sovereignty, and their worlds, perish, O Nārada. // 22

Now, though this twofold action is composed of the qualities, O twice-born,

if it is performed in connection with Viṣṇu, it then becomes free of qualities. // 23

And its fruit becomes imperishable for men, exceeding even what they desired;

as devotees, they go to the abode of the Lord beyond the eight envelopes. // 24

Therefore, the discerning ever perform all their rituals,

whether active or renounced, imbued with devotion to Viṣṇu. // 25

Brahmā, Sthāṇu, Manu, Dakṣa, Bhṛgu, Dharma, and Yama,

Marīci, Aṅgiras, Atri, Pulastya, Pulaha, Kratu, // 26

Vaibhrāja, Vasiṣṭha, Vivasvat, and Soma,

Kaśyapa, Kardama, and others, the lords of creatures, O sage, // 27

and all the gods, all the seers, all the classes, and likewise the stages of life,

worship that very Lord, abiding by the path of active engagement in duty.

Sana, Sanatsujāta, Sanaka, Sanandana,

Sanatkumāra, Kapila, Āruṇi, Sanātana,

Ṛbhu, Yati, and sages such as Haṃsa, who hold lifelong vows—

they worship that very Lord, abiding by the path of renunciation.

Conceiving the gods and the ancestors as limbs of Vāsudeva,

they sacrifice daily with non-violent rites of worship.

For wherever they have been appointed by him according to their qualification,

whether in the active path or in the path of renunciation, they protect it;

both of them do not transgress the boundary set by that God.

Whatever among the four goals of life may be most desired by anyone among them,

the Lord, Master of all powers, completely fulfills each and every one.

Even of a slight meritorious deed done with devotion,

the Lord, pleased, grants a great, imperishable, and desired fruit.

Among them, however, those who in this world have attained single-minded devotion to him,

all their desires completely subsided with respect to anything other than Vāsudeva—

at the end of their bodies, having reached his abode beyond darkness,

they serve him with love in non-material bodies alone.

Other devotees, in time, through firmness in their worship of him,

when their latent desires are exhausted, go to him just like the single-minded devotees.

Whoever is bound to him by any disposition whatsoever,

never falls into worldly existence anywhere like an ordinary soul.

The desired attainment of karmayoga and of jñānayoga

occurs quickly and without obstacle for men solely through taking refuge in him.

Therefore, that very Lord should be worshipped with love according to the rules

by all people here, for the sake of attaining their desired results.

Even Brahmā, Śiva, and the other gods, though they have attained oneness with Brahman and are free from obstacles,

practice devotion to Śrī Viṣṇu; such are his great virtues.

Thus, O Nārada, has this secret teaching been declared to you in full,

for you possess continual and excessive devotion toward me."

Thus ends the third chapter, named 'Expounding that Śrī Vāsudeva is to be Worshipped by All', in the glorious Vāsudevamāhātmya of the second section, the Vaiṣṇavakhaṇḍa, of the glorious Skandamahāpurāṇa consisting of eighty-one thousand verses.